Last updated Replica of the fort. It is not located at the original location of the fort.
Fort Koshkonong (Fort Cosconong) was a military fort located near the present-day city of Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. Intended to control the confluence of the Bark and Rock rivers, it was used as a station for local militia units and the U.S. regulars in the region to scout the British Band, a group of Native Americans who fought against government units during the 1832 Black Hawk War. GeneralHenry Atkinson was the commander of the fort during the war.[1][2] Black Hawk was in the same general area, but evaded capture and started to flee towards the Wisconsin River. The original fort was abandoned by the Army following the conflict. Local settlers dismantled it for the wood as the town developed.
Today the fort's original location along the Rock River is marked with a monument. The city built a replica of the fort during the Great Depression of the 1930s as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project funded by the President Franklin D. Roosevelt administration. Its overall size is somewhat larger than the original fort, but provides a representation of how it looked during the Black Hawk War.
Fort Koshkonong shares its name with Lake Koshkonong, which is several miles downriver. Very shallow, the lake at the time of the fort's activity was more of a marsh with the river flowing through it. It increased in size when the river was dammed and is one of the larger lakes in Wisconsin in acreage.
The Black Hawk War was a conflict between the United States and Native Americans led by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis (Fox), and Kickapoos, known as the "British Band", crossed the Mississippi River, to the U.S. state of Illinois, from Iowa Indian Territory in April 1832. Black Hawk's motives were ambiguous, but he was apparently hoping to reclaim land that was taken over by the United States in the disputed 1804 Treaty of St. Louis.
Rock County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 163,687. Its county seat is Janesville. Rock County comprises the Janesville-Beloit, WI Metropolitan Statistical Area and is included in the Madison-Janesville-Beloit, WI Combined Statistical Area.
Jefferson County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 84,900. Its county seat is Jefferson. Jefferson County comprises the Watertown-Fort Atkinson, WI Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Milwaukee-Racine-Waukesha, WI Combined Statistical Area.
Fort Atkinson is a city in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, United States. It is on the Rock River, a few miles upstream from Lake Koshkonong. The population was 12,579 at the 2020 census. Fort Atkinson is the largest city located entirely in Jefferson County, as Watertown is split between Jefferson and Dodge counties. Fort Atkinson is a principal city of the Fort Atkinson-Watertown micropolitan statistical area which is in turn a sub-market of the larger Milwaukee-Waukesha-Racine CSA.
Koshkonong is a town in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 3,763 at the 2020 census. The town entirely surrounds the city of Fort Atkinson. The unincorporated communities of Koshkonong Mounds and Vinnie Ha Ha are located in the town. The unincorporated communities of Blackhawk Island and Koshkonong, as well as The Census-designated place of Lake Koshkonong are also located partially in the town.
Lake Koshkonong is a census-designated place (CDP) in the towns of Koshkonong and Sumner, Jefferson County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,239 at the 2020 census. Lake Koshkonong is in the area.
Lake Koshkonong is a reservoir in southern Wisconsin, which was transformed from its original marshland by the construction of the Indianford Dam in 1932. The lake lies along the Rock River, with the river acting as both the primary inflow and the primary outflow for the lake. Lake Koshkonong begins 5.5 mi (8.9 km) downriver from Fort Atkinson, with the large majority of the lake located in southwestern Jefferson County. Small portions of the lake extend into southeastern Dane and northern Rock counties.
The Bad Axe Massacre was a massacre of Sauk (Sac) and Meskwaki (Fox) Native Americans by United States Army regulars and militia that occurred on August 1–2, 1832. This final scene of the Black Hawk War took place near present-day Victory, Wisconsin, in the United States. It marked the end of the war between white settlers and militia in Illinois and Michigan Territory, and the Sauk and Fox tribes under warrior Black Hawk.
The Battle of Stillman's Run, also known as the Battle of Sycamore Creek or the Battle of Old Man's Creek, occurred in Illinois on May 14, 1832. The battle was named for the panicked retreat by Major Isaiah Stillman and his detachment of 275 Illinois militia after being attacked by an unknown number of Sauk warriors of Black Hawk's British Band. The numbers of warriors has been estimated at as few as fifty but as many as two hundred participated in the attack. However, reports found in Whitney's Black Hawk War indicated that large numbers of Indians were on the move throughout the region, and it appeared that widespread frontier warfare was underway. The engagement was the first battle of the Black Hawk War (1832), which developed after Black Hawk crossed the Mississippi River from Iowa into Illinois with his band of Sauk and Fox warriors along with women, children, and elders to try to resettle in Illinois. The militia had pursued a small group of Sauk scouts to the main British Band camp following a failed attempt by Black Hawk's emissaries to negotiate a truce.
The Bark River is a tributary of the Rock River, about 67.5 miles (108.6 km) long, in southeastern Wisconsin in the United States. Via the Rock River, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River. According to the Geographic Names Information System, it has also been known historically as the "Peelbark River". The Bark River rises in southern Washington County at Bark Lake In Richfield, WI and flows generally southwestwardly through Waukesha and Jefferson counties, past the communities of Hartland, Delafield, Summit Dousman and Rome, and through several small lakes. It joins the Rock River in Jefferson County just east of Fort Atkinson. In Jefferson County the Bark River collects the Scuppernong River.
Fort Armstrong (1816–1836), was one of a chain of western frontier defenses which the United States erected after the War of 1812. It was located at the foot of Rock Island, in the Mississippi River near the present-day Quad Cities of Illinois and Iowa. It was five miles from the principal Sauk and Meskwaki village on the Rock River in Illinois. Of stone and timber construction, 300 feet square, the fort was begun in May 1816 and completed the following year and consisted of three large blockhouses, like the replica, on its prominent corners. In 1832, the U.S. Army used the fort as a military headquarters during the Black Hawk War. It was normally garrisoned by two companies of United States Army regulars. With the pacification of the Indian threat in Illinois, the U.S. Government ceased operations at Fort Armstrong and the U.S. Army abandoned the frontier fort in 1836.
The Spafford Farm massacre, also referred to as the Wayne massacre, was an attack upon U.S. militia and civilians that occurred as part of the Black Hawk War near present-day South Wayne, Wisconsin. Spafford Farm was settled in 1830 by Omri Spafford and his partner Francis Spencer.
The Battle of Wisconsin Heights was the penultimate engagement of the 1832 Black Hawk War, fought between the United States state militia and allies, and the Sauk and Fox tribes, led by Black Hawk. The battle took place in what is now Dane County, near present-day Sauk City, Wisconsin. Despite being vastly outnumbered and sustaining heavy casualties, Black Hawk's warriors managed to delay the combined government forces long enough to allow the majority of the Sauk and Fox civilians in the group to escape across the Wisconsin River. This reprieve was temporary; when the militia finally caught up with the fleeing band it resulted in the Bad Axe massacre at the mouth of the Bad Axe River.
The Sinsinawa Mound raid occurred on June 29, 1832, near the Sinsinawa mining settlement in Michigan Territory. This incident, part of the Black Hawk War, resulted in the deaths of two men; a third man survived by seeking cover in a nearby blockhouse. In the aftermath of the raid, Captain James W. Stephenson set out to pursue the attackers—a straggling band of Sauk Native Americans—but lost their trail at the Mississippi River. The attack occurred in the same week as other skirmishes and raids, and as a result helped contribute to the growing fear in the region. The raid caused the residents of nearby Platteville to consider fleeing their settlement.
Fort Defiance was one of the last garrisoned stockade forts constructed in territorial Wisconsin. It was located approximately five miles southeast of Mineral Point, Wisconsin. It was located in the booming lead mining region in an area of early settlement. The fort was built by local settlers in 1832 when developing tensions over Native American land rights erupted into the Black Hawk War. Although Fort Defiance did not experience attack, it did have a garrison of about 40 militia men who were said to be among the best drilled in the territory. Fort Defiance had two blockhouses located at opposite corners of the stockade. Within the walls were two buildings used to accommodate the garrison and the families of settlers in case of a siege. There are no visible remains.
The Wisconsin Heights Battlefield is an area in Dane County, Wisconsin, where the penultimate battle of the 1832 Black Hawk War occurred. The conflict was fought between the Illinois and Michigan Territory militias and Sauk chief Black Hawk and his band of warriors, who were fleeing their homeland following the Fox Wars. The Wisconsin Heights Battlefield is the only intact battle site from the Indian Wars in the U.S. Midwest. Today, the battlefield is managed and preserved by the state of Wisconsin as part of the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway. In 2002, it was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Alexander Posey was an American militia officer who served as a brigadier general under General Henry Atkinson during the Black Hawk War, specifically in the later stages of the second campaign as one of the commanders present at the Battle of Bad Axe.
Milton King Alexander was an American politician and militia officer who served during the War of 1812, the Seminole Wars and, most notably, as a brigadier general during the Black Hawk War.
Fort Hamilton was a frontier fort constructed in present-day Wiota, Wisconsin during the 1832 Black Hawk War.
Fort Jackson was a frontier fort located in Mineral Point, Michigan Territory, and constructed during the 1832 Black Hawk War.
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